


Summer Nights and Dessert Bites

by Anghelic



Series: Hand in Hand [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Fluff, LeoSaku Week 2016, Post-Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 17:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8926774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anghelic/pseuds/Anghelic
Summary: The summer heat was ruthless. So was Prince Leo's piercing gaze.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: For Tuesday's Confection/Chess prompt. I picked confection. Enjoy!

Hoshido's summer heat had been ruthless today, especially to its Nohrian visitors cloaked in heavy armor as dark as the night sky. The prince of Nohr's face, etched with an intense expression, as Sakura recalled, glistened in sweat.

Despite that, Sakura had found Prince Leo as charming as any other time she'd seen him.

With golden locks that reminded her of the sun and that rich shade of brown his glowering eyes held, Prince Leo truly was handsome, even if he didn't smile very often. Still, it was all a part of his charm, as if he were some dark and brooding antihero. Sakura labeled him as such after he saved her from Zola's clutches.

These days, it was something she fantasized about whenever she had a moment by herself. And no, it wasn't of him saving her. Not usually, anyway. She couldn't count the number of times her daydreams consisted of her saving him, mostly of the inner demons that Prince Leo probably didn't even have.

Sakura scoffed, and managed to somewhat suppress her embarrassment by taking a rather aggressive bite out of her red bean mochi. Although it was shameful to admit to herself, this was how all of her thoughts about Prince Leo went, even before the war had ended. After relaying to Hana how fast her heart would beat against her chest if he so much as looked her way as well as the stuttering mess she became when he spoke to her, Sakura learned that she had a terrible crush on the prince of Nohr.

She leaned back with a sigh, kicking her feet rhythmically as the wooden deck beneath her creaked ever so quietly. The faint scent of mosquito coils tickled her nose, and the slight breeze that the weather could muster tousled the pink strands of her hair gently. It was way too late to be up, she knew, and too late to be eating the plate of sweets that sat beside her, but if she had stayed in that hot tatami room any longer, she was sure she'd melt.

That, and the unwavering thoughts of her crush left her restless.

Maybe she should get to bed. If Ryoma or Takumi found her out here, they'd definitely scold her for being out so late (and eating sweets were an added bonus), and yet, Sakura still couldn't forge the motivation to actually get up.

"Princess Sakura, what are you doing up so late?"

There was no mistaking the sound of his voice – had it always sounded so curious and skeptical? Startled by his sudden presence, Sakura scrambled to her feet, almost knocking over her plate of mochi in the process. How did she not hear him coming towards her? Pushing the thought aside, Sakura settled on a short, respectful bow. "Um, g-goodnight, Prince Leo," she mumbled, unable to look him in the eye. "Wh-what are you doing up so late…?"

"I believe I asked you first," he said, causing Sakura to tense up. He did, didn't he? Leo had given her such a scare that his words didn't even register, only the sound of his voice.

"Oh uh… I c-couldn't sleep very well, s-so I decided to sit out here," she told him. When she finally managed to get a good look at him, she could feel heat rise to her cheeks. Leo's kosode was inside out and draped over him rather clumsily (a rare occurrence for a man who kept his physical appearance quite tidy) with the obi tied loosely around his waist. She could see part of his bare chest that slowly rose and fell with each breath he took.

Sakura didn't blame him for his attire – it was rather warm after all – but the sight of him as bare as she'd ever seen him, Sakura could have sworn she'd melt. Especially since Leo didn't seem to know how improper his attire was.

And Sakura sure wasn't going to tell him that. It'd make her look like she'd been ogling him.

At that moment, a sound left his lips. It was somewhere between a small exhale and a brief chuckle. She couldn't tell. "I guess that makes two of us then," he said with a ghost of a smile upon his lips. "Would you mind if I joined you for a bit, Princess?"

The smoothness of his voice was enough to make her temporarily forget about her embarrassment, and with quirked eyebrows and somewhat of a lopsided smile, Sakura managed to shake her head. "I wouldn't mind at all."

The two of them sat on the wooden deck with only silence and the plate of red bean mochi between them. Usually, Sakura never minded silence, but it was making her so anxious. She racked her mind for anything they could talk about, but she was drawing a blank. The two of them probably didn't have much in common, and anything she could think of would probably bore Leo.

Just as her hand subconsciously reached out to grab another sweet, she could see Leo turn his head to face her through the corner of her eye. "What are those anyway?"

"O-oh!" Sakura squeaked in surprise. "U-um, these are called mochi…"

"Mow-chee?"

The corners of Sakura's lips twitched upwards at the prince's rough pronunciation. "Yes, they're rice cakes… a type of sweet w-we have in Hoshido."

Leo hummed in thought. "So you're eating sweets so late at night?"

Sakura's cheeks reddened. Gods, he must have thought her to be some type of child. "W-well, I… uh… yes," she murmured, unable to come up with a decent argument as to why she'd been eating them.

"How sweet are they?"

"Not too sweet…" Sakura said. "W-would you like to try one?"

With a gentle curve of his lips, he breathed, "Certainly."

She watched as Leo picked up the sweet treat from his plate, eyeing it with his usual brand of scrutiny before popping it into his mouth. His jaw moved slowly and his brow furrowed in thought. Then in an instant, his facial features relaxed, and Leo managed a genuine smile.

And a feeling of relief washed over her once she knew that Leo's taste palette didn't reject Hoshidan desserts.

"These are really good," he said. "You wouldn't mind if I had another, would you?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. P-please, help yourself."

Another comfortable silence enveloped them. Leo ate red bean mochi while Sakura sat internally reveling in the fact she and her crush were sharing treats together. With all the butterflies in her stomach, Sakura wasn't sure if she could eat another sweet.

"You know," Leo began, his voice cutting into the silence like a knife, "I'm glad that it was you I bumped into out here."

"M-me?" Sakura stammered. "Wh-why me?"

Sakura watched as Leo licks his lips. She could hear him lightly drumming the fingers of his right hand on the deck. "Because I feel as though there's something off between us. I'd like to fix that," he said finally.

She gasped. "Oh no, I-I'm so sorry if I've d-done anything to offend you… uh… wh-what did I do?"

"It's nothing you have to apologize for," Leo said. "If anything, I was wondering if I was the one who should be apologizing. You always seem rather uncomfortable around me, and I'm not sure as to why that is."

Leo wasn't completely wrong. She was a bit uncomfortable around him, and with the way he made her heart race, how could she not be? Still, it would behoove her to clear things up as best as she could without revealing her feelings.

But she couldn't think of anything to say to him.

The prince of Nohr continued. "I'd like to think you at least tolerate me. When I think back on the war and your efforts to heal me, no matter how small my wound was, I feel as though I'm overthinking things," he said before giving a dry chuckle. "But then again, we were allies. It only makes sense you would."

"Th-that's not true at all!" she cried, covering her mouth quickly after her outburst. She had undoubtedly startled Leo, who watched her with wide eyes, and Sakura, with a flushed face, quickly apologized for raising her voice. "Um… it's n-not true. I… I've always wanted to talk to you, b-but I start to get n-nervous."

"Is that right?" Leo wondered aloud.

"Um, n-not that it's you or anything," Sakura clarified. "I'm n-not very good at holding conversations…"

At that moment, the air around Leo changed dramatically. His features softened, and his eyes held a tenderness in them that caused Sakura to hold her breath for a moment. "It's okay if you aren't good at it," he spoke. "We don't have to force conversation between us. I don't mind sitting here with you."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You… You don't?"

"Not at all. This feels… peaceful," Leo said. When a refreshing breeze swept through, Sakura could barely feel it. Her face felt hot, and she pressed her hands to her face in an attempt to cover them.

He had to know how affectionate those words sounded, right? And even so, Sakura wasn't sure if he meant it in the way she wished he did. And why would he? Leo thought she disliked him until just now, after all.

The pink hues on her cheeks went away when she remembered his mentioning of the war, and how she treated him. Sakura didn't think he'd find it significant enough to even remember, much less tell her about it.

"Prince Leo?" Sakura called out. "About what you said earlier… a-about what I did in the war um… I d-don't like to see people suffer. Not even a little bit. So I really tried to help as much as I could."

"You're very kind, Princess," Leo said.

She shook her head no. "I don't think so… I always feel guilty when I see someone hurt, a-and even more so when I can't do anything to help. It's out of my own selfishness that I'm doing this."

Another silence overtook them. Although there was no awkwardness to it, Sakura dug her fingers in the palm of her hand, slightly on edge about the path their conversation had taken. "You should be the last person talking about selfishness. It's the bleeding heart in you that's talking."

"What do you mean?"

"Your empathy is admirable, truly. You can't save everyone, I'm sure you realize, and yet you'd work yourself to death in an attempt to help anyone," Leo spoke before looking at the palm of his hands. "As for me, I've got blood on my hands, and… I don't think I really regret it. I can be callous and standoffish, I'll admit it, and I certainly am rather selfish."

"B-but I don't think that makes you a bad person," Sakura cut in. "I-instead, I think it helps define a part of you. After all, you were even sympathetic to m-me just now, a-about not being good at conversation…"

Leo smiled as a low, breathy chuckle escaped him. "I think that's because you're different, Princess Sakura."

Sakura's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "But, what about me makes me different from anyone else who needs sympathy?"

The prince eyed her before picking up the last of the red bean mochi and split it in half, handing one piece to Sakura. She reluctantly took it, but never ate it. "I did say that that I was rather selfish, didn't I?" he asked before placing the last of the mochi into his mouth.

A part of her wondered if there was an unspoken "when it comes to you," and her face began to grow warm.

With that, Leo stood up, and smoothed out the wrinkles of his inside out kosode. "I think I'll take my leave from you now, Princess Sakura."

"Huh? A-already?" she asked. "B-but I–"

"It is rather late, isn't it? However," Leo paused. "I wouldn't mind doing this again."

Did Sakura ever mention that when Prince Leo did manage a smile, he looked truly handsome?

"…I wouldn't mind either," she smiled.

Content with her answer, Leo turned to leave, and Sakura watched him until he was completely out of her line of sight. Then she looked to the piece of mochi that Leo had given her and ate it.

This one seemed sweeter than the rest.


End file.
